Šiauliai International Airport

Aviationsoul.com. Let's set the scene.

Šiauliai Air Base, that's in northern Lithuania.

It's the primary hub for NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission, the alliance's effort to provide air defense over Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, three countries that do not maintain their own combat aircraft.

NATO members rotate through on roughly four-month deployments, keeping fighters on alert around the clock.